The invention relates to an impermeable operating drape which includes a window through which an operator may access a surgical site and introduce into the body of a patient a tube or wire optionally extended with a perfusion line or another line which should remain in place when the drape has to be removed.
In order to remove the drape in spite of the presence of the tube, of the wire or of the line which passes through the window, it is known from the prior art how to cut the drape by means of an instrument or how to tear it at the moment intended for removing it, until the window is opened laterally. These operations complicate the work of the operator and constitute a risk for the tube, the wire or the line.
In order to facilitate these operations, it was proposed to provide the drape with cutting or tearing slits or lines, as described for example in documents EP 1 009 318 and WO 99/16377.
Document WO 99/16377 describes drapes with windows used in ophthalmology in which lines are formed which join on the window and which allow the drape to be subsequently torn in order to adapt it more easily to the shape of the face, and notably of the eyebrows and eyelids of the patient. These lines are formed with perforations or indentations or weakening lines of the film. In fact, the only method actually described is the cutting of perforations with a rotary knife.
On the other hand, if a drape with a line of pre-cut dots may allow separation, it is not impermeable around the surgical site. Now, it should be impermeable for reasons of asepsis and of possible infections. The indentations or thermal weakening embrittle the drape and promote accidental formation of perforations.